Re: Van Truong Tran
ORB File No: 6922
Hearing held on: Friday, January 24, 2025
Place of hearing: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Ms. L. Banks
Members: Dr. R. Buckingham Dr. W. Loza Ms. M. Labrosse Mr. W. Apted
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Van Truong Tran Counsel: Mr. A. Rai
The Person in Charge of Hospital: Representative Dr. R. McMaster
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. D. Silver
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated March 18, 2025)
Introduction:
1On July 7, 2014, Van Truong Tran was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (“NCR”) on charges of attempt murder, assault with a weapon, aggravated assault, uttering death threats or threat to cause bodily harm, and possession of a weapon for dangerous purpose, all contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.
2Mr. Tran is currently subject to a Disposition of the Ontario Review Board (“ORB” or the “Board”) dated February 15, 2024, pursuant to which he is ordered detained at the General Forensic unit of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (“CAMH”) subject to a variety of terms and conditions with privileges up to living in the community in accommodation approved by the person in charge of the hospital. One of the terms of his Disposition prohibits any direct or indirect contact or communication with Tran Xuan Dao.
3On January 24, 2025, a panel of the ORB convened to conduct an annual review of Mr. Tran’s Disposition pursuant to section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. Mr. Tran was present at the hearing with his counsel, Mr. Rai. Mr. Tran was also assisted at the hearing by a Vietnamese interpreter who provided simultaneous interpretation throughout the hearing.
4The issues to be decided on the hearing were whether Mr. Tran continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public, and if so, what was the necessary and appropriate Disposition to be made in the circumstances, bearing in mind s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
5For the reasons set out below, the Board concluded that Mr. Tran continues to pose a significant threat to public safety and that the necessary and appropriate Disposition is that he be discharged subject to a variety of conditions as set forth at the conclusion of these Reasons.
Index Offences:
6The circumstances giving rise to the index offences are summarized in last year’s ORB Reasons for Disposition, as follows:
“Mr. Tran had been suffering paranoid delusions. The complainant was an acquaintance whom Mr. Tran had asked to repair a laptop computer. Mr. Tran telephoned the complainant and made accusations against him, including that he was somehow involved in Mr. Tran’s wife having him followed. The men set a time to meet. When that came about, Mr. Tran attacked the victim, stabbing him twice. He later threatened the man. Mr. Tran was arrested the next day. The victim was in hospital for a short time.”
Positions of the Parties:
7At the commencement of the hearing all parties were canvassed as to their initial positions. Counsel for the hospital recommended that Mr. Tran continues to pose a significant threat to public safety and that the necessary and appropriate Disposition is that he be discharged subject to a variety of conditions, including: he reside at 96 Dowling Avenue, reporting of not less than once every two weeks or as required, abstinence from alcohol and other intoxicants, provision of samples for substance monitoring, a weapons prohibition, and a prohibition on Mr. Tran contacting the index offence victim. The hospital also recommended a s.672.55(1) Criminal Code consent to treatment clause.
8Counsel for the Crown supported the hospital’s recommendation.
9Counsel for Mr. Tran recommended that he was supportive of the hospital’s recommendation and would not be arguing the issue of significant threat. He specifically consented to the continued inclusion of a s. 672.55 Criminal Code treatment condition on behalf of his client.
10All parties maintained their initial joint recommendation in closing submissions.
Personal Background:
11Mr. Tran’s background and history are set out in detail in the Hospital Report to the ORB dated January 11, 2025 (the “Hospital Report”), and need not be repeated at length here. Briefly summarized, Mr. Tran is now 51 years of age. He was born in Vietnam. At the age of 18, he left Vietnam and lived in Hong Kong for about seven years before returning to Vietnam. He married and moved to Canada in 2009, after being sponsored by his wife. In Canada, he worked in various factories, construction settings and finally in food catering.
12At the time of the index offences, he and his wife were taking a break in their relationship but they subsequently reconciled. There is no history of domestic violence in the marriage.
13Mr. Tran is a permanent resident of Canada. He is capable of managing his own property.
14Mr. Tran has limited family contacts in Toronto with his primary support remaining his wife and step-son.
15Following his NCR finding in July of 2014, Mr. Tran was transferred from the Philippe-Pinel Institute in Montreal to the Forensic Assessment and Triage Unit (“FATU”) at CAMH on March 10 2015. In November 2016, he was transferred to a General Forensic unit. He has consistently displayed limited insight into his illness and has denied having a mental illness.
16Mr. Tran's information about past substance use has been inconsistent and confusing, making it difficult to assess his past drug consumption with any accuracy.
Criminal History:
17Other than a conviction for impaired driving on July 21, 2015, there is no other history of criminal convictions.
Psychiatric History:
18Prior to the index offences, Mr. Tran denies having any previous psychiatric history.
Current Diagnoses:
19Mr. Tran’s current diagnoses are:
Schizophrenia; and
Substance Use Disorder, in remission in a controlled setting (i.e. Alcohol, Stimulant, Hallucinogen).
Evidence at Hearing:
20Dr. R. McMaster testified at the hearing to supplement the evidence contained in the Hospital Report. Dr. McMaster stated that he has been Mr. Tran’s out-patient psychiatrist since September 2024. Mr. Tran’s previous attending psychiatrist was Dr. Kung. Dr. McMaster adopted the contents of the Hospital Report and advised that there were no material updates to same.
21Mr. Tran is not capable of consenting to psychiatric treatment. The Public Guardian and Trustee serves as his substitute decision maker (“SDM”). He currently receives a daily dose of Olanzapine, an oral antipsychotic medication as well as an anti-depressant medication.
22In response to a question posed by a panel member, the doctor advised that Mr. Tran’s medications are currently considered optimized and a re-trial of Clozapine is no longer being considered. Dr. McMaster advised that Mr. Tran had experienced significant medical side effects when trialed on Clozapine in the past and that given the sustained stability in Mr. Tran’s mental state, a Clozapine re-trial is not being recommended.
23Dr. McMaster testified Mr. Tran remains medication compliant in the supervised environment of this group home. His mental status has remained stable with no observable symptoms of psychosis. He denies experiencing auditory hallucinations or paranoia. He denied suicidal ideation or violent ideation.
24Mr. Tran resides in the community in a 24/7 staff-supervised group home located at 96 Dowling street in Toronto. He has resided at this location uninterrupted since March 2022. His medications are directly supervised.
25In the community, Mr. Tran is supported and monitored by the hospital’s Forensic Outpatient Program (“FOP”) team. Mr. Tran continued to meet with his FOP case worker twice weekly. He is generally cooperative with housing staff, rule-abiding, and follows the recommendations of the FOP team. Mr. Tran has a good rapport with the housing team who are in frequent contact with the FOP team. Dr. McMaster expressed his confidence that Mr. Tran’s housing staff would be quick to notice any change in Mr. Tran’s presentation and report that to the FOP team expeditiously.
26Mr. Tran’s insight remains quite limited; however, he does acknowledge that he has Schizophrenia and had psychotic symptoms at the time of the offence. Over the past reporting period, Mr. Tran reported that he stopped hearing the voices of the Prime Minister of Canada and the Queen of England. He has attributed the improvement to his medication but he is not entirely certain. He can be guarded when discussing the symptoms of his illness. The Hospital Report notes, “Mr. Tran has had a good response to high-dose olanzapine. His behavior is less influence by the symptoms than in the past, and he is less distressed.”
27Over the year in review, there have been no incidents of violence or inappropriate behaviour. Mr. Tran has not required re-admission to the hospital over the past reporting year.
28Mr. Tran has not endorsed cravings to use substances and all urine drug screens conducted returned negative for substances of abuse. Despite his abstinence from substances since his hospitalization, Mr. Tran does not appreciate that his substance use can exacerbate his psychosis. He has, however, endorsed that substance use is bad for his health and that he wishes to avoid them.
29Mr. Tran attends day-long structured leisure outings on Thursdays, facilitated by the FOP recreation therapist. He also played recreational soccer facilitated by his Peer Support worker on Friday afternoons. Mr. Tran has been regularly attending Hong Fook, where he is supported by an additional Hong Fook case manager and his peer support group. He is not interested in pursuing vocational pursuits but the team opines that he would benefit from further structured programming.
30Mr. Tran has limited family support in the community and does not wish assistance in attempting to connect with family members.
31The Hospital Report identifies the following criminogenic risk factors that are relevant to Mr. Tran:
deficits in his insight into his mental illness and the importance of medication compliance in perpetuity;
lack of social supports outside of his treatment team;
potential for relapse to alcohol and substance use when discharged to the community; and
his history of severe, violent behaviour when suffering from psychotic symptoms.
32Dr. McMaster testified that absent a Disposition of the ORB, the treatment team anticipates that Mr. Tran would be likely to discontinue compliance with his prescribed medication and fall away from treatment services. This would be likely to lead to him experiencing a re-emergence of psychosis. As his symptoms became more pronounced, Mr. Tran would be likely to engage in violent behaviour, similar to his presentation at the time of the index offences. In the treatment team’s assessment, Mr. Tran continues to represent a significant threat to the public.
33Dr. McMaster indicated that in the assessment of the treatment team, the Mental Health Act (“MHA”) is sufficient to return Mr. Tran to the hospital in the event of a decompensation in his mental status. The doctor stated that if Mr. Tran were to evidence signs of decompensation in the community, the hospital would request that he agree to a voluntary re-admission. Should Mr. Tran be uncooperative with that request then the hospital would seek to have Mr. Tran involuntarily detained in hospital provided he meet criteria for same under either Box A or Box B of the MHA criteria. If unable to be involuntarily detained in hospital under the MHA, the doctor confirmed that the hospital could request the ORB call an early hearing and the hospital could, at such hearing, request that Mr. Tran’s Disposition be changed to a Detention Order.
34No further evidence was called by the parties.
Analysis and Conclusions:
35The Board unanimously finds that Mr. Tran continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public. In coming to this conclusion, the Board notes that this issue was not in dispute at the hearing. The Board also accepts and relies on the uncontroverted evidence of Dr. McMaster that Mr. Tran continues to pose such a risk. The Board also relies on the Hospital Report and the evidence that Mr. Tran suffers from a major mental illness; namely, Schizophrenia, complicated by a history of substance abuse. The Board accepts that without close supervision, that Mr. Tran would likely become noncompliant with treatment and medication and might resume use of illicit substances which could lead to a decompensation and re-emergence of violent behaviour similar to that of the index offences, when Mr. Tran acted with severe and potentially lethal violence in response to his psychotic symptoms.
36In light of the Board’s finding of significant threat, it must shape a Disposition for the coming year. In doing so, its paramount consideration must be the safety of the public, but it must also take into account the needs of Mr. Tran pursuant to s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
37Mr. Tran is congratulated for his ongoing success in the community over the past year. He has remained compliant with his medication regimen albeit under supervision of housing staff, he has abstained from substance use, and maintained psychiatric stability. He has been cooperative with his care providers and adhered to the terms of his ORB Disposition.
38Accordingly, the Board accepts the joint recommendation of the parties and finds the most necessary and appropriate Disposition necessary to manage the risk posed to the public while still meeting Mr. Tran’s needs is that he be discharged subject to the following conditions, all as set forth in the Board’s formal Disposition:
he reside at 96 Dowling Avenue, in Toronto;
he report to the person in charge of CAMH (“PIC”) or his/her designate not less than once every two weeks, or as required;
he abstain absolutely from the non-medical use of alcohol or drugs or any other intoxicant;
he submit samples of his urine and/or breath to the PIC, or his/her designate, for the purpose of analyzing whether he has ingested alcohol, drugs or any other intoxicant;
he refrain from having in his possession any firearm, ammunition or other offensive weapon, or being in the company of any person possessing a firearm other than a peace officer;
he refrain from contact or communication, direct or indirect with Tran Xuan Dao;
he consent to take treatment/medication as in accordance with s.672.55(1) of the Criminal Code;
he advise the PIC, or his/her designate, in advance, of any absence from his residence of 24 hours or more;
he notify, in writing, the PIC or his/her designate and the ORB 24 hours in advance of any change of his telephone number;
if he is arrested pursuant to s. 672.91 of the Criminal Code for a breach of the terms of this Disposition or for an anticipated breach, he may under s. 672.92 (1)(b) of the Criminal Code be delivered to the hospital; and
keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
39In making this Disposition, the Board has reviewed the provisions of s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code and has carefully considered the need to protect the public from dangerous persons, the mental condition of Mr. Tran and his reintegration into society and other needs.
DATED this 18th day of March, 2025 at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region
Ms. L. Banks Alternate Chairperson
__________________ Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board